It's no secret that we love Maine weddings here at SMP - we kind of like to shout it from the rooftops as loud as we can. So, when we first laid our eyes on this beautiful Cape Elizabeth affair, we knew we had something very, very special to share. A day that was not only held at the bride's family home (and on her parent's 38th wedding anniversary!), but was crafted with the help of a whole host of fabulous family and friends. This, SMPers, is why we L.O.V.E. Maine weddings and you can see every last beautiful moment captured by Emilie Inc. Photography in the full gallery.

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From the Bride... My parents 38th wedding anniversary was on June 23, 2012. Hoping to follow their lead into a long-lived marriage, we also chose June 23 as our wedding date. When discussing where to have the event, I only had one venue in mind - my parents front yard in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. At first, they were horrified at the idea (so much coordinating! the lawn was a mess! and where would we PUT everyone!?) but my strong persuasion skills (along with some landscaping!) won them over. While we had a tent on the lawn, I really wanted to walk down the road with my dad and have our personal ceremony outside. (I say "personal" because the JOP was my roommate at Williams College and Mike's coworker before we met; we wrote our own "5 reasons I want to marry you" into our vows, and asked special friends to read meaningful quotes instead of a long reading.)

I put a lot of work into my wedding - making the website, menu cards, and programs (the programs included a crossword puzzle about Mike and me - and our similarities/differences), but recruited plenty of others to help as well! My aunt made some neat "Mr. and Mrs." hanging signs for our chairs; tables were named after places of importance to us, accompanied with a short description of why. My childhood friend who now owns her own floral shop did the flowers; a coworker made our cake. Even the band was an old friend - the band leader was my middle school band teacher! Those are my dad's real lobstering buoys hanging on the ceremony chairs; my mom calligraphed all of the invitations and the seating cards; we used my brother's old boat to store ice and beer. My dad even made the "three essentials" signs (beer, bar, bathroom); my younger brother played his guitar and sang "Here Comes the Sun" as I walked down the aisle; my older brother supplied and lit a crazy fireworks show at the end of the night. Mike and I are both avid skiiers (well, I'm a skiier and he's a snowboarder) and our save-the-date included us dressed in our winter garb with several snowboards and skiis displaying the details of the wedding date. So at the wedding, we refinished an old snowboard to serve as our guest book. Instead of gifts, we asked for donations for a foundation established for one of my best friend's brothers who passed away from non-hodgkins B-cell lymphoma and to a local food bank where we volunteer.

While the weather forecast called for sunny skies, the morning of June 23 was dark and stormy. Aggravated, I hopped in the car to our hair appointments, and emerged two hours later to cloudless blue sky. I was thrilled! Unbeknownst to me, there was a huge storm tracking to hit Cape Elizabeth at exactly 4:30 (wedding start time, of course). I noticed the skies getting darker and darker as we prepped. At 4:15, we got our show on the road (the groom had arrived at about 4, owing to some "vow printing problems"...ahem). The ceremony was everything I'd wanted it to be and more - and we didn't feel a drop of rain! As we started our photos, the sky turned 51 shades of grey and we rushed back to the tent. A night of dancing and laughter followed. Highlights included my MOH singing "If I Ain't Got You", my dad forgetting his toast, a fantastic dance off, and a spectacle of fireworks put on by my dad and brothers that blew me away. It was personal, genuine, and fantastic - everything we wanted the day to be.